Key for piano accordion keyboard



March 26, 1940. Q CERVENKA 2,195,238

KEY FOR PIANO ACCORDION KEYBOARD AND THE LIKE Filed Nov. 25, 1938 ATTORNEV Patented Mar. 26, 1940 KEY FOR PIANO ACCORDION KEYBOARD AND THE LIKE Otto C ervenka, Union Township, Union County,

Application November 25, 1938, Serial No. 242,231

3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in keys for musical instruments utilizing the piano keyboard, such as the piano, celeste, organ, piano accordion, etc.

Heretofore, keys for such instruments have been provided with fiat upper surfaces, which have been found objectionable in that they cause considerable wear and discomfort to the fingers of a player, and also cause a player at times to erroneously strike two keys with one finger. Keys with flat surfaces require also considerable care in the manufacture thereof.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide keys for instruments utilizing the piano accordion keyboard, which keys have rounded upper surfaces and give the player a better feel of the keyboard. With the rounded upper surfaces, the tips of the fingers can readily sense when a key is struck squarely at its center. This reduces the possibility of striking erroneously two keys with one finger.

Keys with rounded upper surfaces also improve the touch, tone, and color as the curved surfaces feel better to a player than a fiat surface.

causes him to put more feeling into his playing.

With the keyboard having keys provided with transversely rounded upper surfaces, the fingers can be readily oriented to the keyboard. This is especially true when a musician must play instruments with different octave spans such as the piano and the piano-accordion. Also, keys of this type enable better playing of glissandos. When a glissando is played on flat keys there is considerable wear and discomfort to the fingers. Keys with rounded surfaces greatly reduce the wear and makes the playing of glissandos a pleasure.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a key for a piano keyboard having a contour which increases the beauty of the keyboard and eliminates sharp corners and edges. The key, because of its simplicity requires a negligible amount of labor and materials in comparison with the cost of manufacturing a key with a flat surface.

These and other advantageous objects, which will later appear, are accomplished by the simple and practical construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and exhibited in the accompanying drawing, forming part hereof, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a piano accordion keyboard made in accordance with my invention,

This has a psychological effect upon a player and Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of a key for a piano accordion keyboard made in accordance with my invention,

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the same,

Fig. 4 is an end view of the key, 5

Fig. 5 is an end view of a modified form of the invention, and

Fig. 6 is an end view of a further modified form of theinvention.

Referring to the drawing, the key for a piano accordion or other musical instrument, keyboard is shown to comprise an elongated main forward portion I which is the extremity of the lever 2 such as is common in piano keyboards. The portion I has the straight longitudinal upper sur- 15 face thereof curved transversely presenting a straight convexity and having a cover as at 3 and the edges of the upper surfaces straight as at 4, to the cover 3 extending slightly at the front.

A key made in accordance with the above obviously is more comfortable to a player, and is more pleasing in appearance than a fiat key. The rounded convex upper surface 3 enables the positive striking of the key and eliminates the erroneous striking of two keys at the same time. Should it be necessary to strike two adjacent keys at the same time, a single finger can rest on two adjacent keys and the keys will be depressed with equal force.

From the above description it will be seen that there has been provided a piano keyboard which is simple in structure and greatly facilitates the playing of musicalinstruments employing such keyboards. Keyboards having keys made in accordance with my invention having convexly 35 curved upper surfaces are especially desirable in playing an accordion. As is well known, the accordion is carried by the side of the player, and it has been found that keys with flat surfaces render the playing of the accordion difficult as the fingers have a tendency to slide over the flat surfaces and cause the erroneous striking of certain keys.

In Fig. 5 is shown a modified form of the invention in which the key has an upper surface with a flat striking portion 5 and inclined portions 6. The contour of the upper surfaces 5 and 5 has many of the advantages of a curved upper surface as above described.

In Fig. 6 is shown a further modification in which the upper surface I of the key has at the center thereof a flat raised portion 8, which facilitates locating keys on a piano accordion.

The foregoing disclosure is to be regarded as descriptive and illustrative only, and not as rekey having an elongated rectangular front portion, its sides and front straight and at right angles to each other and its top straight in length and curved transversely, and a cover secured over said top curved in conformity therewith.

3. In a keyboard for musical instruments each key having an elongated rectangular front portion, its side bottom and front end straight and its top curved transversely throughout its length, a cover fixed on said top to extend at the front, and a lever of reduced width reaching from the rear of said front portion.

OTTO CERVENKA. 

